This. A large number of businesses which built out around "Japanese spoken here" swung to Manderin in the last 4-8 year window and a lot of that isn't coming back because of both Covid, and AU-CN trade/politics concerns. That said, there is a huge chinese mainland diaspora based in Australia this last decade, so I suspect family reunion will encourage more of this tourism/travel back, given time.

(Australia is 40% direct migrant, or children of migrants. There is often a lot of tension over which non-anglo community now has financial muscle, buys homes, sets cultural trends. It's been about Italy, The Balts, Greeks, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese. The New Zealanders mostly sailed under the radar until a recent government started cancelling residency visa left right and centre for crimes of one kind or another and ANZUS as a political belief in unity across the tasman sea died a bit.)

Yes, the throngs of Japanese tourists around the world ended in the 1990s with the downturn of their economy. It had nothing to do with health concerns. Strange that it is being talked about as a recent thing.

The last decade or so has seen throngs of PRC tourists, seemingly less concerned with photo-documenting the world than with seeking out brand name merchandise.

I don't think germophobia is an adequate explanation for increased reluctance to travel, at least for the Japanese. For one thing, they tend to be more influenced by the risk of enduring any kind of hassles in travel, which have increased dramatically since 9/11. For another thing, the shine of popular destinations has worn off somewhat in the last few years. I've heard from talking to/about university students in South Korea that the heavily negative social news about the USA has caused travel there to lose much of its appeal.